Scarcity of Soap

Some Oxfam shops stock Faith in Nature. I too love T.K.Maxx for good quality soaps. Am using some at the mo, lily of the valley. Smells gorgeous. .

I like Maja soap and the delicious shower gel.

I have been using soaps bought from the garden centre for years, they last a long time and save in handcream, as I hardly need any now.The scents are lovely, and the colours.
I only use the plastic soap dispensers in the kitchen.

I used to buy Faith in Nature products - unfortunately the shop selling them in this town closed down a while ago.

My sandalwood soap and soap dish have just arrived. It smells wonderful

Thanks Oldfossil will investigate!

I have never used hand wash gel, thinking it a waste of plastic. I have a nostalgic love of bars of soap as my mother and nanny used to make their own soap. I can’t remember what went in it, I believe some nasty stuff (lye?) as I wasn’t allowed to help.

I buy packs of dove or soap from TX Max too. I tuck the new bars of soap in my husbands shoes until they are needed so his shoes don’t smell. Although he gets cross and says they smell afterwards like an old woman

Faith in Nature, from wholefood shops, do a lovely orange soap. Apologies if someone has already mentioned them - I haven’t read all the thread.

Shizam I got a good little soap tray from Joseph Joseph - too expensive,naturally, but very effective since it keeps the bar at an angle and is easy to drain. It’s a design I haven’t seen elsewhere and takes up less space than other soap dishes - it fits on a little shower shelf quite happily. Squarish and a tasteful duck egg blue and white. But it is made of plastic ☹️ albeit not single-use. Yes, it’s hard to get it right!

Sparklefairydust That’s just the sort of thing I was thinking of! Thanks! I think I will get some - it’s a pity about the plastic box,though.

Is that true Elaine? My DD days that too (works on a maternity ward) but surely soap is designed to kill germs? I perhaps might agree it's better in public places to use liquid soap but they're refilling not replacing plastic containers.
I prefer soap (Simple or Dove) but always open it and let the air get to it to make it last longer!!

I love the idea of plastic free soap. I can't use soap that contains soap though ?. I'm unsure if you can buy a bar of soap free soap? Anyone else know?

I buy all my soap at Lush, lovely soap. It is more expensive but it lasts longer too.

I looked at Lush soap but the ingredients list looked horrendous. Too many chemicals. Recently tried a new vegan soap from The Pure Planet Company. No chemicals, just natural ingredients (including Shea and Cocoa butter) and better still, no palm-oil.

thepureplanetcompany.com/collections/bath-and-beauty

I went on a quest to find a soap tray that doesn’t leave bar in slimy goop after a few washes. Best I have found is from Lakeland which has a spillage spout arrangement. And best soap I’ve used so far is Pear’s. Holds its own better than others. But it is an ongoing project. Any ideas gratefully received.
PS. Doc on radio the other day said we are so lucky that hot water and soap kill bacteria.

The problem with bottles of liquid soap or shampoo etc is that to work better/not clogg up, manufactures added micro needs of plastic to the mixtures. So it’s not just the plastic bottle that is of concern but more importantly these micro plastics that cause so much environmental damage in our oceans. Hence the resurgence of solid bars of soap and shampoos. Plus the issue of palm oil isn’t cut and dried either. Sometimes it is very hard to do what’s right these days

Go to TK Maxx was they have beautiful soaps. They might seem expensive but last so long you get bored of it.

Oldfossil I found these www.amazon.co.uk/CRIVERS-Portable-Disposal-Disposable-Toiletry/dp/B07C7HY8ZB/ref=sr_1_12?s=gateway&crid=3OAA0UW7LXJYS&keywords=soap+leaves&sprefix=soap+lea%2Caps%2C157&tag=gransnetforum-21&qid=1557085468&sr=8-12

Seventhfloorregular. OMG, I agree. My husband constantly buys bottles of shampoo. I could shampoo the entire street if I had to! So annoying because they are all 2/3rds full!

GillT57 I too hate wrestling soap in the shower. I invariably drop it, and my dodgy hip makes it difficult to bend and pick it up.
Do you remember the 'soaps-on-a-rope that were all the rage, years ago? They came in all sorts of shapes and colours. Wondering if we can still buy them I did a Google search. Surprisingly, there are still lots of shops where you can!

Neal’s yard remedies sell beautiful individual bars of soap £5 each which last for ages. They also sell bars of individual boxed fragranced soap which does not include palm oil at all, sadly these bars whilst being beautiful to use, last no time at all. I think the palm oil is added to soap for a reason tbh- wrong as it may seem to the environment.

Like many of us, I am trying to reduce my use of plastic bottles, as well as avoiding palm oil. I’m not unduly alarmed about diseases being passed on via solid bars of soap ( my soap is definitely not soggy and/or cracked, thanks to an effective soap dish) I can see that visitors might not want to share my bar - and vice versa. If guests are staying for the weekend, say, a little bar of soap, such as Friendly Soap sell online, along with the towels you give them is OK. However, what about more temporary visitors - one might call them one-off hand-washers? Has anyone found any attractive, eco-friendly and teeny-tiny soaps?

I do wonder if there’s some ingredient in the liquid soap that makes my nails peel no matter how much I moisturise.
Love Pears & WCT, IL much too strong/harsh. Bought a lovely lanolin soap from the Herriot Museum in Thirsk., using Dove bar in the shower.

Does anyone remember soap ‘leaves’ - very thin, rectangular slithers of soap, sold in some sort of cardboard casing, as I recall, just enough for one hand wash, and supremely portable. Some outdoors firms ,like Mountain Warehouse, now stock what seems to be the same product but in a plastic container, which would defeat the object of cutting down on plastic! I did enquire about soap leaves in a local healthy-Living sort of store, but the young manager hadn’t heard of them.

We went recently on a birding holiday in Costa Rica. When we got to the coastal area we drove through mile after mile of palm oil plantations. Our guide said there was no point in stopping as nothing lived in them.

At least their government is refusing permission for any more land to be put over to palm oil production. The trees are productive for around 35 years before they need replacing. Hopefully they may be replaced with something else in future.